Systems and Methods to Provide Communication References from Different Sources to Connect People for Real Time Communications

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses to present communication references obtained from different sources to connect people for real time communications. One embodiment includes: receiving a search request from a user; searching a first data source according to the search request to obtain information about a first entity; assigning to the first entity a first reference to be used to request a connection server to provide a connection between the user and the first entity for real time communications; searching a second data source according to the search request to obtain information about a second entity, including a second reference for requesting a connection for real time communications with the second entity without going through the connection server; and providing to the user a combined, sorted list of entities in response to the search request, including the first reference for the first entity and the second reference for the second entity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from Provisional U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/944,760, filed on Jun. 18, 2007, the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNOLOGY FIELD

At least some embodiments disclosed herein relate to communicationconnections in general and, more particularly but not exclusively, toconnections for real time communications, such as connecting people fortelephonic conversation, chat in text, voice and/or video, documentsharing, screen-sharing, application sharing, etc.

BACKGROUND

Telephone systems allow users to conduct real time two-way voicecommunication. Traditional land-line based telephone systems connect onetelephone set to another through one or more switching centers, operatedby one or more telephone companies, over a land-line based telephonenetwork. Traditionally, a telephone connection is based on a circuitswitched network.

Current telephone systems may also use a packet switched network for atelephone connection. A packet switched network is typical in a computerdata environment. Recent developments in the field of Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) allow the delivery of voice information usingthe Internet Protocol (IP), in which voice information is packaged in adigital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditionalcircuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network(PSTN).

Cellular networks allow a cellular phone to connect to a nearby cellularbase station through an air interface for wireless access to a telephonenetwork. Recent developments in wireless telephone systems allow notonly voice communications but also data communications. For example,cellular phones can now receive and send short messages through a ShortMessage Service (SMS). Web pages can now be retrieved through wirelesscellular links and displayed on cellular phones. Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) has been developed to overcome the constraints ofrelatively slow and intermittent nature of wireless links to accessinformation similar or identical to World Wide Web.

Telephone companies provide a number of convenient features, such ascall forwarding. Call forwarding of a telephone system allows a user ofa phone at a given phone number to dial a specific sequence on the phoneto cause the telephone system to forward incoming calls addressed to thephone number to another specified phone number indicated by the dialedsequence.

Telephone systems are frequently used in conducting business. Telephonenumbers are typically provided in advertisements, web sites,directories, etc., as a type of contact information to reach businesses,experts, persons, etc.

The Internet is becoming an advertisement media to reach globallypopulated web users. Advertisements can be included in a web page thatis frequently visited by web users. Typically, the advertisementsincluded in the web pages contain only a limited amount of information(e.g., a small paragraph, an icon, etc.). The advertisements containlinks to the web sites that provide further detailed information. Incertain arrangements, the advertisers pay the advertisements based onthe number of visits directed to their web sites by the links of theadvertisements.

Performance based advertising generally refers to a type of advertisingin which an advertiser pays only for a measurable event that is a directresult of an advertisement being viewed by a consumer. For example, inone form of performance-based search advertising, an advertisement isincluded within a result page of a keyword search. Each selection(“click”) of the advertisement from the results page is the measurableevent for which the advertiser pays. In other words, payment by theadvertiser is on a per click basis in such advertising.

SUMMARY

Methods and apparatuses to present communication references obtainedfrom different sources to connect people for real time communicationsare described here. Some embodiments are summarized in this section.

In one embodiment, a method includes: receiving a search request from auser; searching a first data source according to the search request toobtain information about a first entity; assigning a first reference tothe first entity, the first reference to be used to request a connectionserver to provide a connection between the user and the first entity forreal time communications; searching a second data source according tothe search request to obtain information about a second entity,including a second reference to be used to request a connection for realtime communications with the second entity without going through theconnection server; and providing to the user a combined, sorted list ofentities in response to the search request, the combined list includingthe first reference for the first entity and the second reference forthe second entity.

In one embodiment, a method implemented on a telephonic apparatusincludes: receiving at the telephonic apparatus a search request from auser; searching a first data source according to the search request toobtain information about a first entity, including a first reference tobe used to request a connection for real time communications with thefirst entity; searching a second data source according to the searchrequest to obtain information about a second entity, including a secondreference to be used to request a connection for real timecommunications with the second entity; and presenting to the user acombined, ordered list of entities in response to the search request,the combined list including the first reference for the first entity andthe second reference for the second entity. In one embodiment, thetelephonic apparatus is capable to make peer to peer connections forreal time communications using the first and second references.

The present disclosure includes methods and apparatuses which performthese methods, including data processing systems which perform thesemethods, and computer readable media which when executed on dataprocessing systems cause the systems to perform these methods.

Other features of the disclosure will be apparent from the accompanyingdrawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows a method to establish connections for real timecommunications according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface for the creation of an advertisementaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a user interface to manage availabilityfor receiving phone calls according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram illustrating a method to select a type oftracking mechanism with a corresponding reference for embedding in anadvertisement according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of telephone call tracking mechanismswhich can be selected according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows a system including a connection server configured on apacket switched network according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a connection server according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram example of a data processing system whichmay be used in various embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a system to provide a list of references forconnecting a user to people for real time communications according toone embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates a system to provide a list of references to makepeer to peer connections for a user to communicate with people in realtime according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows an example of presenting references from different sourcesaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 13 shows an example of presenting an ordered list of referencesaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 14 shows an example of presenting a list of references on atelephonic apparatus according to one embodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates a method to provide a list of communicationreferences according to one embodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates a method to provide a list of communicationreferences on a telephonic apparatus according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the description. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that embodiments of the disclosure can be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring thedescription.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

In the disclosure, the term “advertisement” may refer to variousdifferent forms of presentations to attract attention or patronage. Anadvertisement may be simply a listing of identity and contactinformation (e.g., in a web page, a print media, a telephonic listingservice, etc.), or a passage including one or more statements aboutbusiness offering, etc., or a banner with graphical content and/oranimation embedded in a web page, or a voice message presented in avoice channel (e.g., radio broadcasting, a voice portal with InteractiveVoice Response (IVR), which may accept user input through voicerecognition or through keypad input generated Dual Tone Multi-Frequency(DTMF) signals), or others.

FIG. 1 shows a method to establish connections for real timecommunications according to one embodiment. In FIG. 1, user A (121)provides a contact for real time communication, such as a telephonereference of the user A. The contact can be used to establish aconnection with user A (121) through a communication network. Forexample, the contact can be a telephone number of a landline,traditional analog telephone, a cellular phone number, a phone numberwith an extension, a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) such as aSession Initiation Protocol (SIP) URI, a user identifier of a VoIPapplication, a user identifier of an instant messaging system, etc.

The contact of the user A (121) is stored in the database (125); and areference is assigned to represent the contact. Instead of providing thecontact to customers, the reference representing the contact is providedthrough the media (127) to user B (131). Thus, when the user B (131)uses the reference to request a connection with the user A (121), theconnections resulted from the advertisement can be tracked to evaluatethe performance.

In one embodiment, advertisements can be distributed via a number ofmedia channels operated by a number of demand partners. The referencecan also be assigned to identify the demand partners and/or the mediachannels used to distribute the advertisements. In one embodiment, theinformation obtained from tracking the demand partners who areresponsible for the delivery of a communication lead is used tocompensate the demand partner for each delivered communication lead.Alternatively, the demand partners may be compensated according to theadvertisement presentations made for the advertiser; and trackedinformation can be used to determine the performance and/or the costeffectiveness of the media channels.

In one embodiment, the reference can be presented via a variety of mediachannels, such as a virtual reality environment, newspaper, magazine,telephone directory, web search results, VoIP user terminals,interactive maps, banners, directory assistance service, onlinemarketplace, mobile communication devices, radio, cable/satellitetelevision, interactive television, web television, voice portal, webportal, online auction site, blog, email, bulletin board, refrigeratemagnet, brochure, etc.

In FIG. 1, the user B (131) can use the reference obtained from media(127) to request the connection provider (123) to establish a connectionor facilitate a communication channel for real time communicationsbetween the user A (121) and the user B (131). The connection provideruses the database (125) to determine the contact of the user A (121) andthen make a connection between the user A (121) and user B (131) usingthe contact of the user A (121). Alternatively, the reference mayinclude an encoded/encrypted version of the contact of the user A (121)which can be decoded/decrypted without relying upon the database (125).

In response to the user B's request for a connection, the connectionprovider (123) may establish two separate connections to the user A(121) and the user B (131) and then bridge the two connections toconnect the user A (121) and user B (131). For example, the connectionprovider (123) may determine the reference from a connection establishedbetween the user B (131) and connection provider (123) and then furtherbridge the connection to the user A (121).

In one embodiment, the connection provider (123) may provide a separatereference to represent the user B (131) and allow the user A (121) tosubsequently callback to the user B (131) via the reference thatrepresents the user B (131), if the user A (121) is not currentlyavailable for real time communications. The connection provider (123)may schedule an appointment for the user A (121) and user B (131) for areal time communication session. The connection provider (123) may senda notification to the user A (121) to inform the user A (121) about therequest for a real time communication.

In one embodiment, the connection provider (123) tracks the connectionsmade via the reference for billing for the advertisement. For example,the connection provider (123) may charge the advertiser for eachcommunication lead deliver to the user A (121).

A communication lead may be limited to a distinct, separate customersuch that repeated calls from the same customer within a predefined timeperiod may not be counted as separate communication leads. In oneembodiment, the communication lead may also be limited by the durationof a communication session, such that a short session having a durationshorter than a predefined time period may not be counted as acommunication lead, and/or a long session having a duration longer thana predefined time period may be counted as more than one communicationlead.

In one embodiment, a number of communication leads may be bundled as apackage for a subscription fee, or a bid price. Further, the delivery ofcommunication leads may be bundled with an offer of a telecommunicationservice package. Alternatively, the advertiser may specify a bid pricethat is to be charged for each communication lead delivered, or a bidlimit (e.g., maximum bid) which is to be resolved into an actual bidbased on the bid prices of competitors in a category for a specificgeographic service area.

FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface for the creation of an advertisementaccording to one embodiment. The user interface may be presented via webin a web browser.

In FIG. 2, an interface (141) allows the advertiser to describe an offer(or a switch pitch, or a cross sell, or some advertising content). Theadvertiser can specify the business contact information for theadvertisement, including the business name, street/mailing address,phone number and fax number. The advertiser/seller is encouraged to tellcustomers via concise marketing messages what is being offered and whythe customers should call the advertiser/seller. For example, theadvertiser is encouraged to include promotional offers in the marketingmessages to get buyers to call the advertiser. Examples of promotionaloffers include: “Call today and get $5 off,” “Free consultation—limitedtime,” and “Call now and save 10%.”

In one embodiment, an audio and/or visual advertisement is generatedbased at least in part on the information submitted by the advertiservia the user interface (141) (e.g., for presentation via virtual realty,directory assistance service, search result, etc.)

In one embodiment, a short audio advertisement is generated based on theconcise marketing message (e.g., two sentences, each having a lengthlimit, such as 35 characters). The concise marketing message can be readby a human to generated a recorded audio file for a short audioadvertisement, or be converted into an audio message via atext-to-speech synthesizer. In one embodiment, the audio advertisementalso includes the business name.

In one embodiment, a visual presentation of the advertisement may beused to supplement the audio advertisement. For example, the address ofthe advertisement can be presented in a visual advertisement, togetherwith additional information that is specified in the business profilepage of the advertisement. In response to a request from the customer,the visual component of the advertisement can be sent to the customervia an SMS message, via an email, via a custom application, via aweb/WAP page, etc.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is sent to a user device in textaccording to a pre-determined format (e.g., in XML or a custom designedformat) to allow a client application running on the user device topresent the advertisement in a custom format. For example, the clientapplication may present the short marketing advertisement in an audioform via a text-to-speech synthesize and the present a selected portionof the advertisement as an animation (e.g., present an electronic couponvia an animation). For example, a Java applet can be downloaded into thebrowser of the user to facilitate VoIP-based phone communication andperform at least part of the text-to-speech operations to enableimproved compression in transmitting audio advertisements.

In one embodiment, when an advertisement is presented to the user via aweb or a virtual reality environment, the short audio advertisement canalso be included; and the audio advertisement can be playedautomatically or after the user selects the advertisement.

In FIG. 2, the interface (141) may be implemented as a web page.Alternatively, an advertisement may submit the advertising content via acustom client application, or via a message gateway (e.g., an instantmessage, an email, an SMS message, etc.). In one embodiment, one or moreadvertisements can be uploaded into a server via a spreadsheet, or via aweb service interface.

In one embodiment, the system converts the text input received from theadvertiser into an audio advertisement. In one embodiment, the audiofile for the advertisement is stored in the advertisement database;alternatively, the text input can be converted into the audioadvertisement (e.g., via a text-to-speech synthesizer, or a humanannouncer) when the audio advertisement is needed. In one embodiment,the machine synthesized audio recording are stored in the database for aperiod of time and deleted if not used after a predetermined period oftime, or when the usage of the audio advertisement is lower than athreshold.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a user interface to manage availabilityfor receiving phone calls according to one embodiment. An advertiser mayspecify the day and time of availability for accepting the calls forreal time communications. Based on the availability, the system mayschedule the presentation of the advertisements/communication referencesmore effectively and block unwanted calls.

In one embodiment, the system can store multiple phone numbers of theseller. The system can intelligent route a call to the seller accordingto the preference of the seller. For example, in FIG. 3, theadvertiser/seller may choose a preferred phone number from a set ofphone numbers of the seller to receive incoming calls using the optiongroup (161) in the user interface (151). The seller may indicate whetherthe seller is currently available to take calls or is to be taken “offcall” (e.g., using the check box (159)).

In one embodiment, the system allows the seller to specify the scheduleto receive calls; and the schedule (153) is displayed to the seller in agraphical way to help the seller to manage calls. In FIG. 3, the userinterface (151) includes a link (163) which can be selected to display auser interface (not shown in FIG. 3) to manage the schedule (153).

In one embodiment, when the schedule or the check button (159) indicatesthat the advertiser/seller is currently not available to take calls forreal time communications, the system can decrease the priority of theadvertisement for this advertiser, or stop temporarily the presentationof advertisements for this advertiser. When there is a call intended forthe advertiser at a time when the advertiser is not taking calls (e.g.,according to the schedule), the system can block the call, or direct thecall into a voice mail for the advertiser, or arrange a call at analternative time, or obtain a callback number to allow the advertiser toinitiate a callback to the customer.

In FIG. 3, the user interface (151) also includes a summary of callactivities. Buttons (157 and 155) can be selected to show graphicalrepresentation of the call activities and further details of the callactivities.

As the phone calls pass through the system, a wide array of informationcan be collected and tracked, including day/date/time of calls, durationof calls, call status (answered, no answer, busy), inbound phonenumbers, etc. Such tracked information can be used in countingcommunication leads generated from advertisements. For example, whenmultiple calls are made from the same user to the same seller within aperiod of time (e.g., a day or a week), or in connection with the sameoffered or auctioned item, these multiple calls can be considered as onequalified call or a single lead.

In one embodiment, different types of communication references can bedynamically selected for advertisements to represent the contactinformation of the corresponding advertisers. A communication referenceused to represent the contact of an advertiser may be a traditionalphone number with or without an extension, a click-to-call reference, aSIP address for VoIP call, a click-to-reveal reference, etc. Thecommunication reference can be embedded into an advertisement to countthe communication leads generated from advertisements, to track thecontributions of demand partners who operate media channels to presentthe advertisements to customers, and/or to track other aspects ofadvertising, such as partners who bring the advertisers/sellers to thesystem and the keywords responsible for the selection of theadvertisement for presentation.

In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism used for a particular versionof a particular advertisement is selected from a number of availablemechanisms, based on one or more considerations such as the volume orfrequency of calls generated from the advertisement, the conversion rateof the advertisement (e.g., the ratio between a count of presentationsof the advertisement and a count of communication leads generated fromthe presentations), the price per communication lead that the advertiseris willing to pay for the advertisement according to a price bidspecified by the advertiser, a potential revenue for a particular partyin the advertising activity, a classification or category of theadvertisement (e.g., the category of service or product advertised inthe advertisement), a geographical area served by the advertisement, thedemand partner who is going to present the advertisement (e.g., thesuccess rate of the demand partner in reaching viable customers incomparison with other demand partners), etc.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram illustrating a method to select a type oftracking mechanism with a corresponding reference for embedding in anadvertisement according to one embodiment. In FIG. 4, multiple types oftracking mechanisms are used in the system. The tracking mechanism usedfor an advertisement or a version of the advertisement can bedynamically selected and changed. For example, different versions of anadvertisement can be generated for delivery by different demandpartners.

In FIG. 4, a pool (189) of different types of references is maintained,such as local phone numbers (171), 800-numbers (173), 888-numbers (175),877-numbers (177), 866-numbers (179). Some of the references can bedynamically generated and used, such as extensions (181), SIP addresses(183), click-to-assign references (185) and click-to-callback references(187). In one embodiment, one or more of the references are selected andused as the assigned reference (193) that is embedded in theadvertisement (191). In one embodiment, the assignment is based at leastpartially on factors related to the advertisement, such as call volume,conversion rate, revenue potential, category, geography, demand partner,etc.

In one embodiment, the reference of a particular type is selected andassigned to the advertisement when the advertisement is being requestedfor delivery. When the advertisement is subsequently requested, thepreviously assigned reference can be used. Alternatively, when theadvertisement is subsequently requested, a different reference of are-selected type can be selected and assigned to the advertisement,based on the considerations such as the call volume in a past timeperiod, conversion rate, price bid, etc. After the new reference isassigned to the advertisement, the previous reference can be assigned toa different advertisement.

In one embodiment, before the expiration of the previously assignedreference for an advertisement delivered by a demand partner, a newreference can be assigned to the advertisement for delivery by the samedemand partner. Thus, multiple references can be associated with a sameset of parameters in a time period. Further, since some of thereferences can be re-assigned to a different advertisement, onereference may be associated with multiple sets of parameters (e.g., fordifferent advertisements). In one embodiment, when a reference isassociated multiple sets of parameters, the parameter set that is mostrecently assigned to and associated with an advertisement has thehighest priority; and when the reference is used to request acommunication connection with an advertiser, the customer can beprompted to confirm the set of parameters (directly or indirectly)before the set of parameters are used to connect the customer to theadvertiser.

In one embodiment, a communication reference that is specific to aselected tracking mechanism is allocated or selected or generated for aparticular advertisement. The communication reference is embedded intothe advertisement to generate a particular version of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism is selected at a time when theparticular version of the advertisement is needed for presentation(e.g., when the version of the advertisement is to be delivered to amedia channel, a demand partner, or to a web browser of a customer). Thecorresponding communication reference is allocated or selected orgenerated when the tracking mechanism is selected.

In one embodiment, the selected tracking mechanism can be dynamicallychanged at a time when the particular version of the advertisement isneeded for presentation (e.g., when the version of the advertisement isto be delivered to a demand partner or to a web browser of a customer).For example, the tracking mechanism used in an advertisement that is tobe presented via a particular demand partner can be upgraded ordowngraded based on the statistical data collected from the pastactivities related to the advertisement.

In one embodiment, a version of an advertisement can have multipleassigned references corresponding to different types of trackingmechanisms. For example, a version of an advertisement may include a SIPaddress, a reference to arrange a callback and a reference to request anassigned phone number.

The SIP address may be presented in a click-to-call format via a VoIPapplication. When the customer has a VoIP application readily available,the customer may choose to make the phone call via the SIP addresswithout requesting for a traditional telephone number.

The reference to arrange a callback can be implemented as a link or abutton labeled as “Request a phone connection through calling me back”.In one embodiment, a form to take the callback number is presented withthe link or button. Alternatively, when the link or the button isselected, a further interface (e.g., a web page, a dialog box, etc.) canbe displayed to guide the customer through the process of connecting thecustomer to the advertiser through calling back the customer.

The reference to request an assigned phone number can be implemented asa link or a button labeled as “Show me a phone number”, which whenselected, causes a phone number to be assigned to the version of theadvertisement. After a phone number is assigned to the version of theadvertisement, the advertisement can be subsequently displayed with theassigned phone number without showing the reference to request anassigned phone number.

Alternatively, when the “Show me a phone number” link or button isselected, the complete phone number of the advertiser can be shown toallow the customer to call the advertiser directly. In such animplementation, the number of times that the advertiser's phone numberis clicked to reveal can be used as a performance indicator, based onwhich the advertisement is charged for.

In one embodiment, after a period of time of serving the advertisement,statistical data related to consumer responses to the advertisement canbe collected and used to adjust the tracking mechanisms for theadvertisement. For example, if it is determined that the majority of thephone calls in response to the advertisement is via the SIP address,other tracking mechanisms may be de-allocated from the advertisement, orre-allocated for a different advertisement. Alternatively, the referencemay be phased out from the advertisement while the reference isallocated to a different advertisement.

For instance, if an advertisement has a high call volume (e.g., receivesmany calls), it may be upgraded for a more expensive method of tracking.An advertisement with an extension may be upgraded to a local phonenumber without an extension, or even a vanity toll-free number, if theperformance of the advertisement is above a threshold (e.g., when itsconversion rate or call volume is high). Conversely, advertisements thatperform poorly may be downgraded in tracking methods used. For example,an advertisement tracked by a toll-free number without an extension maybe downgraded to have a number with an extension, a click-to-callconnection mechanism.

The tracking mechanism of an advertisement can be determined not only bythe performance of an advertisement, but also by the quality of thedemand partner or the quality of the customer viewing the advertisement.For example, one advertisement may use an expensive tracking mechanismon one demand partner but may be assigned a different, inexpensivetracking mechanism on a second demand partner who tends to have lowerquality customers (e.g., customers who response less frequently toadvertisements). The quality of a demand partner may be reflected uponon the difference in the conversion rate of a same advertisementpresented via different demand partners, in the numbers of the potentialcustomers the demand partners can reach, the quality of the customers ofthe demand partners, etc. In another embodiment, the tracking mechanismis directly determined by the quality of the customer himself/herself.For instance, information can be collected about the customerinteracting with the advertisements; if the customer is a frequentbuyer, an expensive tracking mechanism can be used for the customer. Thequality of a customer may also reflected upon the preferences of thecustomer, the spending habit of the customer, the response rate of thecustomer to advertisements, the need of the customer, etc. In this case,different customers of different buying tendencies may see theadvertisement using different tracking mechanisms at the same demandpartners.

In one embodiment, the likelihood of an advertisement being called isestimated based on the type of media channels used to present theadvertisement, the demand partner responsible to deliver theadvertisement, and/or the customer who views the advertisement. Anycharacteristics in advertising that have an impact on the likelihood ofan advertisement being called and thus the expected revenue/profitgenerated from the presentation of the advertisement can be used inselecting a tracking mechanism for the particular instance of theadvertisement.

In one example, if it is determined that the number of communicationleads generated from the assigned phone number is lower than athreshold, the assigned phone number may be reallocated to anotheradvertisement. If the number of communication leads generated from theadvertisement is higher than a threshold, the tracking mechanism usedfor the advertisement may be promoted to a phone number with a short orvanity extension, a phone number without an extension, a vanity phonenumber, a toll free phone number, a vanity toll free number, a localphone number, or a vanity local phone number. If the number ofcommunication leads generated from the advertisement is lower than athreshold, the tracking mechanism may be downgraded, freeing up trackingresources for other advertisements.

In one example, when advertisements are provided to a demand partnerthat has a lower success rate in reaching viable customers than otherdemand partners, this demand partner may be represented using a longextension, leaving short extensions for other demand partners.Alternatively, the advertisements for presentation by the demand partnermay be tracked using references for callback or SIP addresses.

In one example, the system may promote the advertisement activities inone geographic area; and the advertisements served in that geographicarea receive upgrades in tracking mechanism.

In one example, the advertisements in certain categories of products andservices use upgraded tracking mechanisms.

In one embodiment, the advertisements with a pay per communication leadprice bid higher than a threshold receives an upgrade in trackingmechanism.

In one embodiment, the system determines weighting factors in varioustypes of communication references (e.g., in terms of cost and benefit inpromoting the advertisement), the success rate of the advertisement invarious communication channel/demand partner, and the price bids of theadvertisers. Based on the collected information, the system can selecttracking mechanisms to optimize the potential revenue that can begenerated from advertising. In one embodiment, the potential revenueincludes the advertisement revenue and/or other revenue that can begenerated from the advertisement. For example, when the system takes acommission from the transaction resulted from the advertisement, thepotential revenue can include the expected commission from thepresentation of the advertisement; and in such a case the system mayfurther use the statistical data related to the successful rate of acall converting into a transaction, an average value of a transaction,the possibility of a repeated call, the average value of a repeatedcall, etc., in the determination of the potential revenue. In oneembodiment, advertisements may qualify for better tracking mechanismswhen their pay-per-call bid price reaches a certain value. Similarly,advertisements may qualify for better tracking mechanisms when theiroverall value reaches a certain threshold. Their overall value can be afunction of their bid price, ordinal position, conversion rate, demandsource, customer quality, etc.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of telephone call tracking mechanismswhich can be selected according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 5, a phone number (207) without an extension is assigned for thegeneration a particular version (213) of an advertisement (209). In thedatabase (201), the assigned phone number (207) is associated with themedia channel (203) and the advertiser's phone number (205) (and/orother parameters to be tracked). Thus, the parameters to be tracked canbe identified based at least partially on the assigned phone number(207). The particular version (213) of the advertisement (209) that hasthe assigned phone number (207) is provided to the customer (217) viathe media channel (215). The advertisement may instruct or suggest thecustomer to call the assigned phone number (207) to reach theadvertiser. In response to the advertisement, the customer may call theassigned phone number (207). When the connection provider (221) iscalled at the assigned phone number via a telephone carrier, theconnection provider (221) can identify the assigned phone number (e.g.,via a Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS)) and determine theadvertiser's phone number (205) based at least partially on the assignedphone number (207). Further, using the assigned phone number, it canalso be determined that the phone call from the customer is a responseto an advertisement that is delivered via the media channel (215) basedon the association between the assigned phone number (207) and the mediachannel (203) in the database (201).

In one embodiment, after determining the advertiser's phone number fromthe assigned phone number that is dialed by the customer (217), theconnection provider (221) makes a separate call to the advertiser (225)via a telephone carrier. When both the customer (217) and the advertiser(225) are on the line with the connection provider (221), the connectionprovider (221) can bridge or conference the calls to connect thecustomer (217) and the advertiser (225). Alternatively, the connectionprovider (221) may forward the calls from the customer (217) to theadvertiser (225) after determining the advertiser's phone number.

In one embodiment, the assigned phone number can be a phone number thatis local to the area to be served by the advertisement. Alternatively,the assigned phone number can be a toll free phone number, such as an800- (888-, 877, or 866-) number. In one embodiment, the assigned phonenumber is a vanity number that spells one or more words on a dial pad ona phone, such as 1-800-PLUMBER for the advertisement of a plumber.Alternatively, the assigned phone number can be a plain phone number.

It is recognized that a local phone number is easy to dial manually, avanity number is easy to remember, and an 800-number is easier toremember than other toll free numbers. Thus, there are different valuesin advertising in the different types of assigned phone numbers.

Since maintaining different phone numbers may increase the trackingcost, another type of tracking mechanism uses different extensions todifferentiate tracked parameters. For example, different root phonenumbers can be used to represent different media channels; and differentextensions can be used to represent different advertisers. In anotherexample, different root phone numbers are used to represent differentadvertisers; and different extensions are used to represent differentmedia channels. In another example, the entire assigned phone number,including the root phone number and the extension, is used as a key tolook up the media channel and the advertiser's phone number. In afurther example, the root phone numbers are not used to differentiatetracked parameters; and the tracked parameters are represented by theextensions, which may be implemented as keys to look up the parametersor as encoded/encrypted version of the parameters.

In one embodiment, after the customer dials the root number, thecustomer is connected to an IVR system or a human operator of theconnection provider/tracker. After the customer provides the extensionto the IVR system or the human operator, the tracked parameters, such asthe media channel and/or the advertiser's phone number, can bedetermined.

In one embodiment, the IVR system or the human operator can prompt thecustomer for the extension that is provided in the advertisement. Whenthe dialed root number is sufficient to identify information about themedia channel, the IVR system or the human operator may customize theprompt to include the information of the media channel and ask thecustomer to further provide the extension to reach the desiredadvertiser. When the dialed root number is sufficient to identifyinformation about the advertiser, the IVR system or the human operatormay customize the prompt to include the information of the advertiserand ask the customer to further provide the extension to reach thedesired advertiser.

The extension can be a plain extension or a vanity extension that spellsone or more words on a dial pad on a phone, such as extension PLUMBERfor the advertisement of a plumber. In one embodiment, extensions usedin the system can have different lengths. A shorter extension is easy todial; and a vanity extension is easy to remember. In one embodiment, theextension includes an encoded/encrypted version of the associatedparameter to allow an authorized data system to decode/decrypt at leastsome of the parameters without having to query the database. Thus,different types of extensions can have different values in advertising.

The tracking methods described can have different costs. A toll-freenumber with many extensions, for instance, is much cheaper than manyvanity toll-free numbers. Therefore, the system uses the more expensivemethods when it's worthwhile to do so. For instance, if an advertisementreceives many calls, it may be selected for a more expensive method oftracking. An advertisement with an extension may in the future beupgraded to a local phone number without an extension, or even a vanitytoll-free number. Similarly, an advertisement may qualify for a moreexpensive method of tracking if its conversion rate is high (e.g., if ithas a high ratio of the number of calls it receives to the number oftimes it is displayed). Conversely, advertisements that perform poorlymay be downgraded in tracking methods used. For example, anadvertisement tracked by a toll-free number may be downgraded to have aless expensive, click-to-call connection mechanism.

In one embodiment, the connection provider calls the customer instead ofproviding a phone number to receive a phone call from the customer. Forexample, the reference assigned to represent the contact of theadvertiser may not be used to make a call via a traditional telephonecarrier. The reference can be submitted to the connection provider via adata communication, such as an email, an SMS message, a web request, orother types of data communication. The reference can be used as a key inthe database to look up the associated parameters, such as the mediachannel and the advertiser's phone number. In one embodiment, thereference is an encoded/encrypted version of the associated parameters,such that an authorized data system can decode/decrypt the informationwithout having to look up from the database. After the reference isprovided to the connection provider with the request for a connection,the connection provider can callback to the customer to establish theconnection between the customer and the advertiser. The request mayinclude a callback phone number of the customer. Alternatively, acustomer may be prompted to provide the callback phone number inresponse to the request. The connection provider can connect thecustomer and the advertiser by calling the customer and the advertiserseparately and bridge/conferences the calls, or by forwarding one call(e.g., the call to the customer) to another (e.g., to the advertiser).

In one embodiment, a telephone number assigned to a version of anadvertisement includes a SIP address for the initiation of a VoIP-basedtelephone call. The SIP address can be used for a manually dialed callon a SIP-enabled phone, or be used in a click to call format. In oneembodiment, the SIP address includes an encoded/encrypted version of thecontact of the advertiser such that the connection provider candecode/decrypt the contact of the advertiser from the SIP addresswithout having to look up from database.

In one embodiment, the allocation of a telephone number to anadvertisement is deferred to a stage when a customer is interested inthe advertisement and ready to make a phone call. A reference embeddedin the advertisement can be used to specifically request for thetelephone number that is assigned to the advertiser by the connectionprovider. The request can be sent as a web request in response to aclick on a link, or as an email, an SMS message, or an instant message.The assigned telephone number may be a toll free phone number withoutextension, a local phone number with an extension, a SIP URL, etc.Alternatively, the reference can be used to request the actual phonenumber of the advertiser.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment. In FIG. 6, a database (251) may contain thephone numbers of target phone A (261), target phone B (263), . . . ,target phone X (269), etc. Typically, the target phones belong to theinstitutions, businesses, individuals, etc, which seek for publicitythrough various media channels, such as media channel A (231) (e.g., webserver), media channel B (232) (e.g., WAP server), media channel C (233)(e.g., short messaging service center), media channel D (234) (e.g.,custom server), media channel E (237) (e.g., cable television), mediachannel E (238) (e.g., news press), media channel G (239) (e.g., radiostation), and others such as virtual reality, directory assistanceservice, interactive maps, etc.

In one embodiment, the phone numbers of the target phones are notdirectly publicized over the media channels. Instead, encoded targetphone numbers (253) are used. Using the encoded target phone numbers(253), a user cannot reach target phones directly. The encoded targetphone numbers (253) allow the association of additional information withthe target phone numbers, such as the media channels used, specialpromotions, etc.

The encoded target phone numbers are delivered with content information(e.g., web page, WAP page, short message, television programs, newsarticles, virtual reality, etc.) to user devices, such as user device A(241) (e.g., cellular phone), user device B (242) (e.g., personaldigital assistant (PDA)), user device C (243) (e.g., computer), userdevice D (246) (e.g., receiver), user device E (248) (e.g., newspaper).

In one embodiment, a user device can include a USB phone, a Bluetoothwireless phone, or one or more speakers or headphones with one ormicrophones for the implementation of a software based phone(softphone).

In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony. In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support thedisplay of virtual reality.

In one embodiment, the user device can include a television set toreceive the advertisement. Further, the television set may have thecapability to accept user input so that the television content may bechanged according to the user input (e.g., interactive television, webtelevision, internet television, etc.), or be coupled with a set top boxwhich has such capability. The user input may be provided to the contentprovider through the same communication channel in which the televisioncontent/programs are delivered (e.g., a cable system of a cabletelevision system), or a separate channel (e.g., a phone line, anInternet connection, etc.). The user input may include a request to makea connection to an advertiser featured in an advertisement presented ina television program, such as a request for a telephonic connection tothe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the user devices are mobile devices, such as PDA,cellular phone, etc. The user devices obtain content information,including advertisements, through wireless communication connections,such as cellular communication links, wireless access points forwireless local area network, etc.

In one embodiment, a user device (e.g., a cellular phone, a computer, aPDA) can receive content information from multiple types of mediachannels (e.g., a web server, a WAP server, an SMSC, CHTML, etc.).

In one embodiment, a user device is capable to dial a phone call (e.g.,automatically according to the encoded phone number embedded in thecontent information when a user selects the number). Alternatively, auser may manually dial a phone call using a separate phone, such as userphone S (247) or user phone T (249).

In one embodiment, dialing at least a portion of an encoded target phonenumber connects the phone call to a connection server (255) first.According to the encoded target phone number dialed, the connectionserver (255) determines the corresponding target phone number using thedatabase (251) and connects the phone call to the corresponding targetphone (e.g., one of target phones 261-269) through the communicationnetwork (257).

Note the communication network (257) may be circuit switched, packetswitched, or partially circuit switched and partially packet switched.For example, the telephone network may partially use the Internet tocarry the phone call (e.g., through VoIP). For example, the connectionbetween the user phone/device and the connection server (255) may becarried using VoIP; and the connection between the connection server(255) may be carried using a land-line based, circuit switched telephonenetwork.

In one embodiment, the information associated with the encoded targetphone number, such as the media channel used to provide the encodedtarget phone number to the users, is also decoded/retrieved using thedatabase (251). Thus, the information associated with the encoded targetphone number can be tracked/stored.

In one embodiment, the connection server (255) also determines the phonenumber of the user through Automatic Number Identification (ANI). ANI isa phone system feature that provides the billing phone number of theperson making the phone call.

The information about the caller, target phone number, the media channelused for delivering the contact information to the user can be used tobill the caller and/or the target phone number, and providecredit/compensation for the corresponding media channel.

For example, the advertisements for target phone numbers can be paid foron a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking the calls can be usedfor billing the advertisers. Alternatively, the users may be seeking thecontact information on a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking thecalls can be used for billing the users.

In one embodiment, the additional information associated with theencoded target phone number is used to provide credit/compensation tothe operators of the corresponding media channels that are responsiblefor leading the users to the phone calls to the target phones. Thesystem can further track the time and duration of the phone calls andother information, such as conditional promotions, electronic coupons,etc.

The information about the media channels that are responsible forleading the users to the phone calls to the target phones can also beuseful for the advertisers. The advertisers may wish to know which mediachannel is more effective in reaching users. For example, using thestatistic information about the media channels which successfully bringin phone calls, the advertisers may fine tune advertisement strategies.Further, different media channels may charge differently for theadvertisements; and the advertisers may bid differently on differentmedia channels for their advertisements.

In one embodiment, an encoded target phone number has the same number ofdigits as a standard phone number (e.g., a typical telephone numberassigned by a telephone company). Thus, dialing the encoded target phonenumber is as easy as dialing the target phone number; and dialing thetarget phone number reaches the connection server (255). In such anarrangement, a large number of encoded phone numbers are generallyrequired to differentiate the different target phones and differentmedia channels.

In one embodiment, an encoded target phone number has more digits than astandard phone number. A first portion of the encoded target phonenumber has the same number of digits as a standard phone number to reachthe connection server (255) through the communication network (257); anda second portion of the encoded target phone number is to be decoded bythe connection server (255). For example, the Dual Tone Multi-Frequency(DTMF) decoder can be installed in the connection server (255) to detectthe second portion of the encoded target phone number dialed at the userphone. The detected phone number can then be used to recover the targetphone number. In one embodiment, a human operator or an interactivevoice response (IVR) system can be used to receive the second portion ofthe encoded target phone number for decoding.

When an encoded target phone number has more digits than a standardphone number, the additional digits can be implemented as a telephoneextension, or as input to an IVR system. In one embodiment, an encodedtarget phone number includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addressfor the initiation of a VoIP call to the system.

In one embodiment, a single telephone number is used to reach theconnection server (255) for different target phone numbers; and theportion of the encoded target phone number that is used to reach theconnection server (255) is not used in determining the informationassociated with the encoded target phone number.

Alternatively, multiple telephone numbers can be used to reach theconnection server (255); and the entire encoded target phone number canbe used to determine the information associated with the encoded targetphone number.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers can have differentnumbers of digits. The advertisers may be arranged to bid for shorterencoded target phone numbers.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers are assigned onlywhen needed for use in a media channel. For example, when a query isreceived at the server of the system, the system assigns phone numbersfor the advertisements that satisfy the query.

In one embodiment, a look-up table approach is used to encode theinformation. For example, the database (251) keeps track of theinformation about the media channel and the target phone number (andother information, if any) for the encoded target phone number so thatthe encoded target phone number can be used as a key to retrieve thecorresponding information. Thus, it is not necessary to have apredetermined structure to encode the information about the mediachannels and the target phone number.

Alternatively, algorithms can be used to generate and encode targetphone number and associated information. For example, a predeterminedalgorithm may be used to encode different information in the targetphone number. For example, the target phone number may include a numberof fields separated by “*” or “#”. Each of the fields can be decodedseparately (e.g., from a separate look up table or a mapping algorithm)to determine the target phone number, identity of the media channel,etc.

For example, a set of parameters can be mapped from a string ofcharacters to a string of numerical digits as a part of the encodedtarget phone number; and the string of numbers can be mapped back intothe string of characters at the connection server (255). When such amapping scheme is used, a look up table is not necessary. For example,an encoded target phone number may include a first portion that is thephone number of the connection server (255), a second portion that isthe target phone number appended with a number mapped from an identifierof the media channel. To prevent the user from dialing the target phonenumber directly, an encryption/scrambling scheme can be used to encodethe second portion, which is decoded at the connection server (255).

In one embodiment, the connection server (255) determines the targetphone number from the encoded target phone number dialed by the user andthen dials the target phone number for the user and joins/bridges thephone calls so that the user can talk to the target phone.

In one embodiment, users dial the encoded target phone numbers manually.A user can dial the encoded target phone number regardless of the userdevice used and the media channel used.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, user devices can automatically dialthe encoded target phone numbers. For example, a cellular phone, acomputer or a PDA can dial a phone number using a Dual ToneMulti-Frequency (DTMF) generator. In one embodiment, the encoded targetphone numbers are presented in the content information in a format suchthat when the user selects the phone number the user device (e.g., acellular phone or a computer) dials the encoded target phone number forthe user. The user selection may be in the form of a keyboard/keypadinput, a touch pad input, a track ball input, a mouse input, a voicecommand, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device initiates the phone call through aVoIP system when the user selects the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the user device dials the phone number for the userwithout the user manually pressing the sequence of the encoded targetphone numbers. This greatly simplifies the process of make the phonecall. Since a user device can dial a long sequence of number easily, alarge number of digits can be used to encode the information withoutpresenting any difficulties for the users.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers are formatted sothat the user device dials a first portion of the encoded target phonenumbers to access the connection server (255), pauses for a short periodof time for the connection server (255) to prepare for receiving thesecond portion of the encoded target phone numbers, and then dials thesecond portion of the encoded target phone numbers. Thus, the userdevice provides a user-friendly way of dialing the encoded target phonenumbers; and, making the phone call can be as easy as making a “click”to access a web page.

In FIG. 6, the user device initiates the phone call. Alternatively, aconnection server may be used to initiate phone calls both to the userdevice (or a separate user phone) and the target phone and thenjoin/bridge the phone calls to connect the user to the target phone. Forexample, when the user selects the encoded target phone number, theselection of the target phone number is transmitted to the connectionserver with the user phone number.

The user phone number can be automatically determined through ANI, orthrough a user preference setting, or through an entry submitted withthe selection of the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the selection of the encoded target phone number istransmitted to the corresponding media channel, which forwards therequest for making the phone call to a server (e.g., a web server)connected to the connection server. Alternatively, the contentinformation can be formatted so that the selection is sent directly tothe connection server.

When the connection server starts the phone calls, the encoded targetphone number can also include alphabetic characters (and/or othercharacters). The connection server can decode the encoded target phonenumber to recover/retrieve the target phone number and other associatedinformation, such as the identity of the media channel that iscreditable for providing the encoded target phone number to user.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented to end users around theglobe without geographical area limitations. For example, an advertisermay provide services and/or products to customers around the globe. Theadvertisement may be delivered to the worldwide users of the Internet.

In one embodiment, the intended audience of an advertisement is thepopulation in a particular geographical area or people interested in aparticular geographical area. For example, an advertiser may limit itsservice area within a geographical area, where the advertiser canprovide services and/or products to the customers more effectively. Forexample, a business may better serve the customers within a convenientwalking/driving distance to the site of the business. A business maylimit the service area within a city, a county, a state, a country, orother types of regional areas. Further, a large business entity havingoffices around the world may want to attract customers in differentgeographical regions to different offices for better services.

In one embodiment, a target geographic area is specified for publicizinga phone number which can be used to reach an advertiser. The targetgeographic area information can be used to effectively reach potentialcustomers and connect the customers to the corresponding phones of theadvertisers.

For example, in one embodiment, the advertiser can specify a geographicservice area corresponding to a phone number. The service area may bespecified in terms of radius, city, region, state or national boundary,etc. The service area can be used to limit the delivery of theadvertisement to customers seeking information in the correspondinggeographic area. The service area can be used to stream information intoa mobile device when the mobile device enters the service area, with orwithout explicit request from the user of the mobile device. The servicearea information can also be used to route the phone to thecorresponding one of the offices of the advertiser, based on thelocation of the caller, if the advertiser has more than one office.

In one embodiment, an advertisement presented in a media channel is fora single advertiser. The end user selects an advertiser according to theadvertisements presented on behalf of individual advertisers; and theconnection server connects the end user and the selected advertiseraccording to the encoded target phone number individually publicized inthe advertisement for the advertiser. When the user views the onlineadvertisements, the selection of the advertiser is based on the onlineinformation.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented in a media channel fora group of advertisers, such as a group of mortgage brokers. Theadvertisement contains an encoded target phone number which is reachableto the group of mortgage brokers. When the encoded target phone numberis selected or used, the selection of a particular advertiser isperformed at the connection server.

For example, a toll-free number is published to advertise mortgagebrokers in a particular geographic area. When a consumer dials thetoll-free number, the call is routed to the highest bidding mortgagebroker who is available in that market.

The connection server may select the target advertiser according to thebidding of the advertisers for the advertisement. The advertiser whoplaces the highest bid is the winner for the call. Alternatively, or incombination, other types of selection criteria can also be used. Forexample, the user may be interested in advertisers in a particulargeographical region; and the geographical area of interest to the callercan be determined and used in selecting the target advertiser. Further,the user may be interested in a connection without excessive waitingtime. The status of the availability of the advertisers to answer thecall can be used in ranking the candidates for routing the call.

In general, an indicator used to rank the candidates may be a functionof a number of parameters, such as the bid for the advertisement, theprojected waiting time, an indicator showing a degree of matching to oneor more user requirements (e.g., geographic area, service type, etc.),advertisement budget, and others.

In one embodiment, a connection provider uses a connection serverconfigured on a packet switched network to provide telephone connectionsbetween callers (e.g., customers) and callees (e.g., advertisers), asillustrated in FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, the connection server (277) receivesand/or places telephone calls via the telecommunication carrier (275)over the packet switched network (279). The telecommunication carrier(275) further routes the telephone communications towards the caller(271) and the callee (273).

Since the telecommunication carrier (275) can route a call from a packetswitched network to a variety of destinations (e.g., a traditionalanalog telephone set, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a WiFi phone, aBluetooth phone, a softphone running on a computer, etc.), theconnection sever (277) can use one type of communication connection withthe telephone carrier (275) to facilitate the communication connectionswith variety of devices used by the customers (e.g., callers andcallees). Thus, the implementation of the connection server (277) can besimplified. In one embodiment, the connection server (277) can alsoplace and/or receive direct VoIP calls to/from the caller (or callee).

For example, to make a voice connection in response to a click-to-callrequest, the connection server can place separate VoIP calls, via thetelecommunication carrier (275), to the caller (271) (e.g., therequester of the click-to-call) and the callee (273) (e.g., thedestination of the click-to-call request).

If the caller (271) (or the callee 273) is on a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), the telecommunication carrier (275) bridgesthe packet switched the network and the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). The telecommunication carrier (275) routes the call fromthe packet switched network (279) to the caller (271) (or the callee273) on the circuit switched network. Thus, the caller (271) (or thecallee 273) can use a telephone set to receive the call via a Plain OldTelephone Service (POTS). The connection server (277) joins the separatecalls that are placed via the packet switched network (279) to connectthe callee (273) and the caller (271).

In one embodiment, call signaling and media content may use differentnetwork paths. While call signaling is arranged to go through the packetswitched network (279) and the connection server (277), the media streamdoes not have to go through the connection server (277). For example,when the calls are joined, the media content may be redirected to flowover the communication carrier (275) without going through the packetswitched network (279) to the connection server (277) for improvedperformance and efficiency. The connection server (277) can release thecontrol over the media stream to allow the media stream to flow throughthe shortest path, without going through the connection server, whilemaintaining control to the connection for the call by staying on thepath for call signaling.

In another example, when the caller (271) initiates a call over a PSTNto the connection server (277), the telecommunication carrier (275)converts the call for the packet switched network (279) for theconnection server (277).

In one embodiment, virtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier(275) are assigned to the caller (271) and the callee (273) forinterfacing with the connection server (277) over the packet switchednetwork (279). The virtual softphones encapsulates the devices andnetworks used by the caller (271) and callee (273) to access theconnection server (277); and the telecommunication carrier (275) shieldsthe connection server (277) from the implementation details of the userdevices and networks used by the caller (271) and the callee (273). Theconnection server (277) calls (or receives calls from) and connects thevirtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier (275) to connect thecaller (271) and the callee (273).

In FIG. 7, the telephone connection between the telecommunicationcarrier (275) and the connection server (277) is facilitated via apacket switched network (279). Thus, the connection server (277) canoperate efficiently in a digital domain. The connection server (277)interfaces with the telecommunication carrier (275) using one type ofInternet Telephony systems (e.g., SIP-based Internet telephony).

Alternatively, a connection server may include some or all of thefunctionality of the telecommunication carrier (275). For example, theconnection server may be configured to bridge a packet switched networkand a circuit switched network. The connection server may supportmultiple, different types of Internet Telephony systems.

In one embodiment, the connection server (277) and the telecommunicationcarrier (275) are operated by different, separate entities.Alternatively, the connection server (277) and the telecommunicationcarrier (275) may be operated by the same entity. In another embodiment,the telecommunication carrier (275) includes a set of facilitiesoperated by a number of separate entities.

In one embodiment, the caller (271) and/or the callee (273) may alsoplace/receive calls via a packet switched network. The telecommunicationcarrier (275) may route the calls between the caller (271) and thecallee (273) without using a PSTN. In one embodiment, caller (271)and/or the callee (273) may place calls to or receive calls from theconnection server (277) via Internet.

FIG. 8 shows a connection server according to one embodiment. In FIG. 8,the connection server (355) is configured to place and/or receive VoIPcalls using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). A session bordercontroller (351) is used to interface with the packet switched network(353) and control the types of network traffic related to VoIP callsthat might go into the connection server (355).

In one embodiment, the session border controller (351) is configured tocontrol the signaling and media stream during the setting up, conductingand tearing down of VoIP calls to or from the connection server (355).In some embodiments, the session border controller (351) may pick up thecall that comes to the session border controller (351), places aseparate call from the session border controller (351), and joins thereceived call and the placed call to control both the signaling andmedia stream. In some embodiments, the session border controller (351)may perform signaling/encoding translation to allow the connectionserver (355) to process the VoIP calls in one standard, while receivingVoIP calls in a variety of standards (e.g., SIP, H.323, etc.).

In one embodiment, the session border controller (351) is configured toperform one or more firewall functionalities, such as denial of serviceprotection, call filtering, bandwidth management, etc.

In one embodiment, the session border controller (351) is configured toperform media releasing operation. When the session border controller(351) determines that the source and destination of a media stream is onthe same side of the session border controller (351) (e.g., both thesource and the destination of the media stream is outside the connectionserver 355), the session border controller (351) can release thehairpinning of the media stream and allow the media stream to flowwithout going through the session border controller (351).

In FIG. 8, a set of SIP servers (e.g., 361, 363, . . . , 369) arenetworked to the session border controller (351) to receive messages forincoming calls and to initiate outgoing calls. The session bordercontroller (351) is configured to evenly distribute the calls forprocessing by the SIP servers.

For example, when an incoming message for the initiation of a call isreceived (e.g., a SIP INVITE message from the telecommunication carrier275), the session border controller (351) may route it to a SIP server(e.g., 361) for processing. The INVITE message includes the phone numberdialed by the caller and the contact information about the caller (e.g.,the phone number of the caller 271 and/or the identity of the virtualSIP phone at the telecommunication carrier 275).

The SIP server may determine whether the phone number dialed by thecaller (273) is sufficient to determine the phone number of the callee(e.g., 273). If the phone number of the callee (e.g., 273) can bedetermined from the phone number dialed by the caller (273) (e.g., viadecoding the phone number dialed by the callee, or looking up the phonenumber of the callee from a table using the phone number dialed by thecaller as a key), the SIP server can place a separate SIP call to thecallee via the packet switched network (353) and then connect the callerand the callee. Alternatively, the SIP server can further route the SIPINVITE message (e.g., to the telecommunication carrier (275) to directthe call to the callee. For example, the SIP server may modify theINVITE message by replacing the destination with the determined phonenumber of the callee. Further, the SIP server can modify the INVITEmessage by removing the phone number of the caller (or replacing thephone number of the caller with a phone number of the connectionserver). In one embodiment, the modified INVITE message identifies thevirtual softphone corresponding to the caller on the telecommunicationcarrier as the SIP phone initiated the call; thus, the virtual softphonecorresponding to the callee on the telecommunication carrier canestablish media connection with the virtual softphone corresponding tothe caller on the telecommunication carrier directly. Alternatively, themodified INVITE message may identify a media server (371) (or a virtualsoftphone on SIP server) as the initiator for a separate call. The SIPserver then connects the calls for the media stream.

In one embodiment, the caller is first connected to a media server(e.g., 371, 373, or 379). For example, the SIP server may forward theSIP INVITE message to one or more of the media servers for answering thecall. When a media server (e.g., 371) answers the call, a prompt isplayed to the caller by the media server. The media server may includean Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, or be connected to an IVRsystem, to obtain input from the caller.

For example, the media server may prompt the caller to enter theextension assigned to the callee, such that the phone number of thecallee can be determined based on the phone number including theextension dialed by the caller. In some embodiments, the extensiondialed by the caller is sufficient to determine the phone number of thecallee. After the phone number of the callee is determined, the SIPserver can further connect the call to the callee.

For example, the media server can send a message to the SIP server. Themessage identifies the call and the extension obtained from the caller.The SIP server then determines the callee's phone number based at leaston the extension received from the media server and initiates a SIP callvia the packet switched network (353) (e.g., by sending a SIP INVITEmessage to the telecommunication carrier 275, which further bridges thecall to the callee 273). Then, the SIP server disconnects the mediaserver from the call and reconnects the call to the callee.

For example, the SIP server can send a SIP BYE message to the mediaserver to disconnect the media server from the call (e.g., by sending a“BYE” message to the media server for the call) and send a re-INVITEmessage towards the caller to connect the caller and the callee.Alternatively, the media server may send a SIP BYE message to the SIPserver for the call; the BYE message may include the extension obtainedfrom the caller; in response to the BYE message that contains theextension, the SIP server determines the phone number of the callee andfurther connects the caller to the callee.

In one embodiment, the SIP server can direct the caller and the calleeto connect to each other for the media stream without having the mediastream going through the session border controller (351) into theconnection server (355). For example, the media stream can go throughthe telecommunication carrier (275) in FIG. 7 without going to theconnection server (277) after the SIP server connects the caller and thecallee.

However, the SIP server stays on the signaling path to monitor theprogress and termination of the call. The SIP server can also break theconnection between the caller and the callee, or force the media streamto come through the connection serve (355). For example, the SIP servermay selectively conference a media server into the call to monitorand/or record the communication of the call between the caller and thecallee. For example, the SIP server may reconnect the caller and thecallee to separate media servers for interaction with an IVR system or ahuman operator to confirm a deal or transaction.

Similarly, the SIP server may initiate a callback to a caller via a SIPcall over the packet switched network (353) for a connection to thecaller. The SIP call may be bridged onto a circuit switched network(e.g., by a telecommunication carrier 275). The SIP server can thenreconnect the call to a media server for sending a prompt to the callerbefore reconnect the call to the callee. Alternatively, the callback canbe initiated from a media server; and the call signaling (e.g., theINVITE message from the media server) goes through the SIP server forcall control. Alternatively, the SIP server sends out the INVITE messageon behalf of the media server.

In one embodiment, the SIP servers (361, 363, . . . , 369) and mediaservers (371, 373, . . . , 379) are implemented on separate computersconnected via a local area network (and/or intranet or Internet).Alternatively, at least the some of the servers can be implemented on asame computer. In one embodiment, the SIP servers and the media serversare also integrated with the session border controller (351) on a samedata process system having multiple processors coupled with a data bus.In one embodiment, the SIP servers are coupled to the media servers viaa network; and a SIP server may use any of the available media serverfor interaction with the caller (or callee). Alternatively, a SIP servermay be configured to use one or more of media servers that are notshared by other SIP server. For example, a SIP server may be implementedon a same data processing system with one or more media servers whichare reserved for the SIP server.

In one embodiment, the connection server (355) may further include adatabase server (355) to storing records related to the calls, datamapping between the communication references assigned to the callees andthe actual phone numbers of the callees, etc. In one embodiment, contactmapping are cached in the local memory (e.g., RAM) of the servers forimproved performance; and the cached mapping is updated when thedatabase is updated.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram example of a data processing system whichmay be used in various embodiments. While FIG. 9 illustrates variouscomponents of a computer system, it is not intended to represent anyparticular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components.Other systems that have fewer or more components may also be used.

In FIG. 9, the communication device (301) is a form of a data processingsystem. The system (301) includes an inter-connect (302) (e.g., bus andsystem core logic), which interconnects a microprocessor(s) (303) andmemory (308). The microprocessor (303) is coupled to cache memory (304)in the example of FIG. 9.

The inter-connect (302) interconnects the microprocessor(s) (303) andthe memory (308) together and also interconnects them to a displaycontroller and display device (307) and to peripheral devices such asinput/output (I/O) devices (305) through an input/output controller(s)(306). Typical I/O devices include mice, keyboards, modems, networkinterfaces, printers, scanners, video cameras and other devices whichare well known in the art.

The inter-connect (302) may include one or more buses connected to oneanother through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters. In oneembodiment the I/O controller (306) includes a USB (Universal SerialBus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals, and/or an IEEE-1394 busadapter for controlling IEEE-1394 peripherals.

The memory (308) may include ROM (Read Only Memory), and volatile RAM(Random Access Memory) and non-volatile memory, such as hard drive,flash memory, etc.

Volatile RAM is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) whichrequires power continually in order to refresh or maintain the data inthe memory. Non-volatile memory is typically a magnetic hard drive, amagnetic optical drive, or an optical drive (e.g., a DVD RAM), or othertype of memory system which maintains data even after power is removedfrom the system. The non-volatile memory may also be a random accessmemory.

The non-volatile memory can be a local device coupled directly to therest of the components in the data processing system. A non-volatilememory that is remote from the system, such as a network storage devicecoupled to the data processing system through a network interface suchas a modem or Ethernet interface, can also be used.

In one embodiment, a server data processing system as illustrated inFIG. 9 is used as one of the communication server(s), connectionserver(s), database server(s), media server(s), controller(s),router(s), gateway(s), etc. In some embodiments, one or more servers ofthe system can be replaced with the service of a peer to peer network ofa plurality of data processing systems, or a network of distributedcomputing system. The peer to peer network, or a distributed computingsystem, can be collectively viewed as a server data processing system.

A user terminal as a client system can be a data processing systemsimilar to the system of FIG. 9. A client system can be in the form of aPDA, a cellular phone, a notebook computer or a personal desktopcomputer. For example, the I/O devices of the user device may include aUSB phone, a Bluetooth wireless phone, or one or more speakers orheadphones with one or microphones for the implementation of a softwarebased phone.

In one embodiment, a user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony. Other types of traditional communication client(s) may beused in some embodiments.

In one embodiment, listings from different sources retrieved accordingto a search request, such as listings from a personal address book, abusiness directory, and/or an advertisement database, etc., are combinedinto an ordered list for presentation. The presented listings includereferences that can be used to request connections with the entities ofthe listings for real time communications, such as for telephonicconversations, instant messaging, chat in text, voice and/or video,screen sharing or application sharing, etc.

For example, the listings from different sources may include listingsthat are private to the user, such as the private entries from anaddress book of the user, listings that are created by the user and madepublic to the friends of the user, listings that are created by the userand made public to a community of users (or made public to anyone),listings that are created by friends and made accessible to the user,listings that are created by a community of users and made accessible tothe user, listings of relevant advertisers, content selected manually bythe provider of a directory, etc. In one embodiment, the listings arepresented in an order based at least in part on the likelihood of theuser trusting the listings.

In one embodiment, the listings from different sources are presentedbased on a search request from the user. Alternatively, the listings canbe presented in response to the user selecting a category. For example,the user can browse a list of categories, or a tree of categories andsubcategories, to obtain a list of listings. Alternatively, the listingscan be merged and presented via an alpha-paginated view of the listings.

In one embodiment, the listings from different sources are presented tothe user. The listings can be selected by the user for adding into theaddress book of the user. Adding the listing into the address book ofthe user causes the listing to have a higher priority than similarlistings that are not in the address book of the user.

In one embodiment, a presented listing includes a telephonic reference,which is used to identify an “end point” on a telephonic network for atelephonic connection to the “end point”. The telephonic network may bea circuit switched network, or a packet switched network, or acombination of one or more circuit switched networks and one or morepacket switched networks. For example, the telephonic reference may be atelephone number with an extension, a telephone number without anextension, a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resourceidentifier (URI), a user identifier of an instant messaging network, auser identifier of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, or auser identifier of a peer to peer VoIP network, etc.

In one embodiment, the telephonic references presented in the listingsretrieved from some of the sources are references assigned by aconnection server such that, when the references are used, theconnection server is in the path of a call for a connection between thecaller and the callee. For example, the connection server may berequested to call back the caller and to call the callee separately toconnect the caller and the callee according to an assigned reference.For example, the connection server may receive a call, as an end pointspecified by an assigned reference, and then further connect the call tothe callee based on the assigned reference used to receive the call. Forexample, the connection server may be queried to provide a telephonicreference of the callee according to an assigned reference to allow thecaller's device to initiate the call to the callee using the providedreference. For example, the connection server may decrypt or decode anencrypted/encoded phone number of the callee for the caller's device andtrack the calls made by the caller's device through the decrypting ordecoding process.

In another embodiment, the telephonic references for some of thelistings are designed to be used on telephonic apparatuses which areconfigured to track the calls made via the telephonic references and/orto report the calls made via the telephonic references. Thus,information about the calls made via the telephonic references can beused at a server to bill advertisers per connections made via theadvertisements, to charge the customers on behalf of advisers (orsellers, service providers), to compensate partners based on the callactivities, etc.

In a further embodiment, the telephonic references for some of thelistings are designed to be used on telephonic apparatuses which areconfigured to maintain account information, or to communicate withservers of financial institutions to bill advertisers, and/or charge thecustomers on behalf of advisers, sellers or service providers.

In one embodiment, at least some of the listings are retrieved fromsources such as the address book of the user, an online businessdirectory, etc. The entities of the listings are not to be charged anadvertisement fee for presenting the listings. In one embodiment, thereis no prior arrangement for charging one party of a communicationconnection on behalf of another party of the communication connectionfor such listings.

For example, in one embodiment, listings can be maintained in a listingdatabase, in which the listings are created and edited by the communityof users of telephonic apparatuses, such as softphones, cellular phones,or smart phones. The users can provide, edit, and/or modify adescription, comments, ratings, etc., about a business or serviceprovider that is identified by a telephonic reference, such as atelephone number of the business or service provider. Alternatively, thelistings may have a portion of description that can be edited by therespective advertiser but not by other users. The listing databaserepresents a business directory; and the entities represented by thelistings may not pay any fee for being presented. In one embodiment, theusers may be charged a communication fee for communicating with theentities featured in the listings when the users use the softphones,cellular phones, or smart phones to communicate with the entities.

In one embodiment, when an assigned reference is used to call forconnections, the user is connected to a connection server as an endpoint. The connection server determines the communication reference ofthe advertiser based on the assigned reference used to connect the userand the connection server and then further connects the user to theadvertiser. Through the use of the assigned reference, the connectionserver is in the path of connecting the user and the advertiser to trackthe connection made via the advertisement.

For example, the assigned reference may be a telephone number of theconnection server, which when called by the user can be used todetermine the telephone number of the advertiser; and the telephonenumber of the advertiser can be used to further connect the call to theadvertiser. For example, the assigned reference may be a reference torequest a callback to the user to connect to the advertiser. Forexample, the assigned reference may be an identifier of the advertiser,such as a user ID of the advertiser, a SIP URL of the advertiser, etc.The assigned reference can be passed to the connection server in a callsignaling message of a VoIP call, be used to request a server to resolvethe reference into a direct reference for use in a network, or be usedto report to a server about the call to the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the user terminals that are designed to make theconnections via the advertisement use the assigned reference to trackthe connections and report to a server the connection made via theadvertisement. For example, softphones can be designed to make directconnections over a peer to peer network, without going through acentralized connection server. The softphones can be configured toreport the calls made via the advertisements to a server for tracking.Alternatively, the softphones may be configured to deduct fees, ortransfer funds, via accounts maintained by the softphones, or accountsaccessible individually by the softphones.

In one embodiment, a click to call button includes a reference to thecallee, which when selected, causes a telephonic apparatus used by theuser, such as a softphone, a cellular phone, or a smart phone, to starta process to call the callee. The reference to the callee may be a SIPaddress of a connection server encoded with a phone number of thecallee, which can be decoded by the connection server to further connectthe call to the callee. The reference to the callee may be an encryptedphone number of the callee, which is to be decrypted by a server toallow the telephonic apparatus to call the callee directly (e.g., via apeer to peer network). In one embodiment, the reference can furtherinclude parameters such as the search terms used to locate the listings,the time stamp of the search, an electronic coupon/promotion, a bidprice for advertisement fee, and/or a price for the service offered by aseller, etc. In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus is configuredto report a call resulted from the advertisement to a server fortracking, billing purposes.

FIG. 10 illustrates a system to provide a list of references forconnecting a user to people for real time communications according toone embodiment. In FIG. 10, a search engine (415) is configured tosearch different data sources (e.g., 401, 403, . . . , 409) and providethe search results to the list generator (413) to generate a combined,order list for presentation.

In one embodiment, the list generator (413) combines the resultsobtained from different sources based at least in part on the prioritiesassigned to the data sources. For example, the listings in a personaladdress book of the user may be assigned a priority higher than otherlistings; and the listings in an advertisement database may be assigneda priority higher than the listings in a directory in which the listingsare presented without being charged an advertisement fee.

In one embodiment, some top positions in the list generated from thelist generator (413) are reserved for listings retrieved from certainsources (e.g., address book and/or the advertisement database). Forexample, up to a first number of top positions can be reserved for thelistings obtained from the personal address book; and up to a secondnumber of next top positions can be reserved for listings from theadvertisement database; and other listings can be mixed in the remainingpositions of the list based on a ranking indicator, such as the earningpotential for presenting the listings, the degree of matching to thesearch criteria, availability of the callee to communicate in real timeat the time of the presentation of the listings, ratings of thecustomers, the prices of the sellers, etc.

In another embodiment, the priorities of the different sources arerepresented by different weights for sorting the results in a unifiedway. For examples, a ranking indicator may be evaluated based on afunction of the earning potential, the degree of matching to the searchcriteria, and real time availability of the callee, and/or otherconsiderations. To sort the listings from different sources in a unifiedway, the earning potential, the degree of matching to the searchcriteria, real time availability of the callee, and/or otherconsiderations can be modified with a weighting factor assignedaccording to the priority of the source of the listing before being usedin the ranking function to compute the ranking indicator.

In one embodiment, the data sources are hosted at different locations.For example, the data source B (403) may be assessable via a webservice; and the data source X (409) may be hosted on a centralizeddatabase; and an address book may be hosted in an account of the user ona server, or on a user device (e.g., a computer or a telephonicapparatus or a personal digital assistant (PDA) of the user). In oneembodiment, some of the data sources may be hosted on a peer to peernetwork.

In one embodiment, the search engine (415) and the list generator (413)are implemented on a server system, which provides the combined, orderedlist to a user device over a network for presentation.

In some embodiments, at least part of the functionalities of the searchengine (415) and the list generator (413) is implemented on a userterminal, such as a telephonic apparatus illustrated in FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 illustrates a system to provide a list of references to makepeer to peer connections for a user to communicate with people in realtime according to one embodiment. In FIG. 11, a telephonic apparatus(425) includes a presentation module (431) which is configured tocombine the search results obtained from different sources in a combinedlist.

In one embodiment, a telephonic apparatus is a softphone implemented atleast in part via software, such as an instant messenger, a VoIP clientapplication running on a computer, an applet embedded in a web page, abuilt-in or plug-in module of a web browser, a handheld device, apersonal digital assistant, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, aBluetooth phone, a WiFi phone, etc. The telephonic apparatus may bedesigned to make a connection based on Internet Protocol, based on apeer to peer network, based on software, and/or based on a connection toa server or a host computer, etc. In some embodiments, the telephonicapparatus is implemented via hardwire circuitry, suchApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC); in some embodiments, thetelephonic apparatus is implemented partially via special purposehardwire circuitry and partially via software, such asApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or Field-ProgrammableGate Array (FPGA) with software/firmware; and in some embodiments, thetelephonic apparatus is implemented using a set of general purposehardwire components that are under the control of software.

In response to a search request, the telephonic apparatus (425) mayobtain search results from multiple sources. Thus, the user does nothave to submit the search request individually for different sources.For example, the telephonic apparatus (425) may retrieve one or morelistings from an address book (433) that is maintained on the telephonicapparatus (425).

In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus (425) includes a searchmodule (not shown in FIG. 11) to search the address book (433) accordingto a search request. Alternatively, the telephonic apparatus maygenerate an index from the address book and submit the index to a searchengine to allow the search engine to identify listings from the addressbook based on the search request. Alternatively, the address book may becached on a server or a peer to peer network to facilitate the search inthe address book via a search engine that is not co-located with thetelephonic apparatus.

In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus (425) is configured tosubmit the search request to one or more servers (or peer to peernetworks) to search various data sources, such as business directory(421), advertisement engine (423), etc. The presentation module (431)presents the listings obtained from different sources into a combined,ordered list, as illustrated in FIGS. 12-14.

In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus (425) is capable to makepeer to peer connections with other telephonic apparatus (e.g., 427)using a data communication network. The telephonic references retrievedfrom the address book (433), business directory (421), and/oradvertisement engine (423) can be used to make the peer to peerconnections without going through a centralized connection server.

In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus (425) is configured torecord call details (e.g., time, duration, destination, etc.) and reportthe calls resulting from the listing retrieved from the sources torespective servers. For example, during or after a call resulted from anadvertisement retrieved from the advertisement database (423), thetelephonic apparatus (425) can send a message to the advertisementengine (423) with information about the call, such as sending a messagewith a Call Detail Record and an identifier of the advertisement.

Alternatively, the advertisement engine may provide a telephonicreference of a connection server in an advertisement such that, when thetelephone reference of the connection server is used to request theconnection, the connection server is used to connect the telephonicapparatus to the advertiser.

In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus includes an accountingmodule (435) which maintains an account of the user. For example, theaccounting modules (435) of the user telephonic apparatus (425) canperform transactions or record the transactions for subsequent updatingin a centralized account database. In another embodiment, the accountinformation of the members is maintained on a peer to peer network, withor without the help of a centralized account server.

For example, in one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus (425) used bythe customer maintains the member account of the customer via theaccounting module (435); and the telephonic apparatus (427) used by theseller or advertiser maintains the member account of the seller oradvertiser via a corresponding accounting module. The telephonicapparatus (425) of the customer pays the telephonic apparatus of theseller via the peer to peer communication connection between thetelephonic apparatus of the customer and the telephonic apparatus of theseller. The telephonic apparatus of the advertiser may be instructed todeduct an advertisement fee from the account of the telephonic apparatusof the advertiser in response to a call from the telephonic apparatus(425) of the customer.

In one embodiment, during or after the communications between thecustomer and the seller, the telephonic apparatus of the customer and/orthe telephonic apparatus can make a connection to a server of a serviceprovider to provide a commission fee for the transaction to the serviceprovider. In another embodiment, the commission fee is provided to theservice provider via deduction of a portion of the balance from theaccounting modules.

In one embodiment, a member account indicates the balances the memberhas through pre-paying the connection provider/service provider. Thebalance may be in the unit of minutes for telecommunications (e.g.,telephonic communication, instant messaging communications, etc.), inthe unit of a currency (e.g., U.S. Dollar), or in the unit of points,etc.

In one embodiment, the processing of the payment charged by the selleris in the form of transferring the member balance from one memberaccount to another member account (e.g., via a peer to peer network or acentralized server). In one embodiment, a member account is maintainedon a user terminal such as a computer, a PDA, or a telephonic apparatus(e.g., a softphone or a cellular phone, a WiFi phone, or a PDA basedphone). In one embodiment, the member account can be dynamicallytransferred from being hosted on one user terminal to another terminal,via a peer to peer network or a server.

In another embodiment, the member account is maintained on a centralizedserver.

In one embodiment, the processing of collecting commission fee is in theform of deducting a portion of the balance from a member account, ortransferring from a member account to an account of the serviceprovider. In one embodiment, records of the transactions are stored tobill or credit the members via their telecommunication bills (e.g.,telephone bills, cellular phone bills, etc.)

In one embodiment, a user terminal, such as the telephonic apparatus(425), is configured to communicate with a financial institution tofacility the transaction. For example, one user terminal may beconfigured to access a bank account of the member to make or receivepayments; and another user terminal may be configured to make or receivepayments via a credit card account, a debit card account, etc. The userterminals connected via a peer to peer connection may not use the samefinancial institution. In one embodiment, the user terminals areconfigured to use their respective associated financial accounts toautomatically process the payment, after both the seller and thecustomer agree on the payment request.

In one embodiment, a connection server charges or pays the customersand/or advertisers, advisors, sellers, service providers, etc. via bankaccounts, credit card accounts, debit card accounts, member accounts,etc., after authenticating the identities of the customers and/or theadvertisers, advisors, sellers, service providers, etc. for providingthe connections for real time communications.

FIG. 12 shows an example of presenting references from different sourcesaccording to one embodiment. In FIG. 12, a browser (501), such as ageneral purpose web browser or a custom application program, is used topresent the listings of the advisors. Other types of interfaces can alsobe used to present the listings in a similar way. For example, thelistings can be presented on a softphone via a visual interface, orpresented via an audio interface (e.g., using an Interactive VoiceResponse system). The listings may be presented in response to a searchrequest. For example, in FIG. 12, a keyword including one or more wordscan be specified in the entry box (503) to initiate a search forlistings that match the keyword.

In FIG. 12, a set of featured listings are presented on top of otherlistings to advertise the featured listings. The sellers of the featuredlistings offer a separate advertisement fee for featuring the listings;and other listings are retrieved from a directory of sellers who are notcharged an advertisement fee for the presentation of the listings. Theadvertisement fee may be charged per connections to the customer madevia the advertisement, or based on a number of presentations made onbehalf of the advertiser.

In one embodiment, a value formula is used to compute the value scoresof listings that are qualified to be featured (e.g., having a userrating above 3.5 and current availability for a connection with thecustomer for real time communications). For example, the value scores ofthe qualified listings can be evaluated to rank the candidates. Apredetermined number of top ranking listings can be selected as thefeatured listings. The featured listings are presented according to thevalue scores, while the other listings may be presented according to adifferent order, based on the rate (509), the rating (511), availability(513), name (or topic) (515), etc. A presented listing may also includean icon/image (e.g., 505) supplied by the seller/advertiser.

In one embodiment, when the seller/advertiser is available for real timecommunications, an icon button (e.g., 507) is also presented for thelisting. The customer/user can use a cursor to select the icon button torequest a connection to the seller/advertiser for real timecommunications, such as a telephone conversation with or without video,a text, voice and/or video chat, and/or an application sharing session(e.g., screen sharing, common white boarding, etc.).

For example, in one embodiment, after the call button (507) is selected,an interface is displayed (e.g., via a web page or a window of a customapplication) to allow the user to specify a time window in which theuser is available for real time communications with the callee (e.g.,advertiser, advisor, seller, etc.). The user can provide a telephonicreference of the user in the interface box for a callback, such as amember name, a user identifier, an account number, a screen name, atelephonic reference such as a SIP URI, a VoIP user ID, an instantmessaging user identifier, etc.

In one embodiment, if the user has already signed in, the callbackreference (e.g., telephone number, user ID, etc.) can be obtainedautomatically from the user account and provided in the user interfacefor confirmation by the user. In one embodiment, the user terminal(e.g., a softphone, a cellular phone, etc.) can automatically determinethe callback reference of the user; and the automatically determinedcallback reference can be provided for confirmation by the user.Alternatively, when the callback reference can be determined via theautomated process (e.g., via a member account or the user terminal), thesystem may initiate the connection process without displaying the userinterface for specifying a callback reference.

In one embodiment, when the callee is available for real timecommunications with the user, the connection provider can call the phonenumber of the user to provide a connection between the user and thecallee.

In one embodiment, a reference to the user request is provided to theadvertiser/advisor to allow the advertiser/advisor to initiate theconnection with the user for real time communications. For example, thesystem may send a message to the advertiser/advisor, including thereference to the user, to inform the advertiser/advisor that the user isinterested in a callback within the time window specified by the user.The message can be sent via an email, an instant message, an SMS textmessage, a voice mail, a phone call, etc.

In one embodiment, when the seller/advertiser is not currently availablefor real time communications, an icon button (not shown in FIG. 12) canbe displayed, which when selected, causes the browser to provide aninterface for arranging an appointment for a call to theseller/advertiser.

In one embodiment, when the icon/image (505) of the seller/advertiser(or the link (517 or 519)) is selected (clicked), the browser displaysdetailed information about the listing. When the rating (521) isselected, selected feedbacks from prior customers of the listing aredisplayed. A selection of any of the links embedded in the listing canbe a click, which qualifies as a chargeable event for advertisement fee(e.g., a fee for featuring the advertisement). Example conditions forqualifying the click include the customer having provided paymentinformation (e.g., a credit card number, a debit card number, a checkingaccount number, a debit account number, etc.), the customer having notclicked more than a predetermined number of listings within a period oftime, the customer having not made a purchase from the seller/advertiserwithin a period of time, the customer having not made a click on thelisting within a period of time, etc. Some of the conditions may besatisfied or verified after the click; some of the conditions may besatisfied or verified before the click.

In one embodiment, the seller/advertiser may specify a bid price forpreferential placement in featured listings, which can be charged as anadvertisement fee. The listing management tool may display the bids ofcompetitors to assist the seller/advertiser in determining a bid pricefor the advertisement fee. In one embodiment, a listing management toolcan determine the competitor listings that meet the qualifications forfeatured listings, determine the value scores of the competitors, anddetermine the actual bid that is required for the listing to have avalue score ranked above the competitors. For example, the top list ofvalue scores of the competitors can be converted into a list of actualbids for the listing to win various positions in featured listings. Theactual bids can be provided to help the seller/advertiser in determininga price bid for getting the listing presented as a featured listing. Inone embodiment, a seller/advertiser can place a maximum bid for aspecific position in featured listings.

In FIG. 12, listings from different sources are grouped into differentsections of the ordered list. Alternatively, the listings from differentsources are presented in a combined list without explicitly markings, asillustrated in FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, a listing (523) from a personaladdress book of the user is presented at the top of the list. Twolistings (505 and 506) are presented from an advertisement database atthe next top positions in the list; and other listings (525) areselected from a business directory (e.g., a yellow page directory).

In one embodiment, up to a pre-determined number of top positions in thecombined list are reserved for searching results from the personaladdress book; when the search results from the personal address book isless than the per-determined number, some of the top positions can befreed for other listings. Similarly, up to another pre-determined numberof next top positions can be reserved for featured listings, oradvertisements. In one embodiment, a user can specify the pre-determinednumbers of reserved positions using one or more preference parameters.

FIG. 14 shows an example of presenting a list of references on atelephonic apparatus according to one embodiment. In FIG. 14, the usermay enter one or more key words (e.g., “Excel”) in the search box (602)under the heading “search for” to indicate the requirement for thesearch.

FIG. 14 the search result includes one listing (611) from the personaladdress book of the user, one or more listings (e.g., 601) from afee-based advisor database, and some listings (e.g., 613) from abusiness listing database.

In one embodiment, the advisors set their own rates for providingservices, such as advice, entertainment, celebrity conversations orother types of paid access, over the telephone link.

In one embodiment, when a listing is selected, an expended entry isdisplayed for the listing. For example, an expanded advisor entry showsa photo image (601) of the advisor, a description (603) of the expertiseof the advisor, the rating (605) based on the experience of prioractivity of the advisor, the price (607), etc.

In one embodiment, the expanded entry further includes an informationicon (609), which can be selected to provide a profile page about theadvisor. For example, the profile page may include the expertise of theadvisor, the rate, a detailed description, social connections, and/orprevious consumer feedback information, such as rating, comments,recommendations, etc.

In FIG. 14, the expanded entry includes a call icon (604) which can beselected to initiate a call to the advisor. Alternatively, the user cancall the advisor via selecting the “call now” link (606) of the listing,or selecting the call button (608) while the listing is beingselected/highlighted. In FIG. 14, the telephonic reference of theadvisor is not displayed in the listing; and the user is encouraged tocall via the telephonic apparatus. Alternatively, the telephonicreference of the advisor can also be displayed for the listing; and theuser has the option to use a different telephonic apparatus to place thecall.

FIGS. 12-14 illustrate examples of visual interfaces for presenting thelistings. Alternatively, the listings can be presented via an audioportal. For example, a user can call a phone number of a connectionserver for an interactive voice response system (IVR), which receivesuser specified search criteria and presented the search results obtainedfrom different sources in a combined list.

FIG. 15 illustrates a method to provide a list of communicationreferences according to one embodiment. In FIG. 15, after a searchrequest is received (701) from a user, a first data source is searched(703) according to the search request to obtain information about afirst entity. The first entity is assigned (705) a first reference to beused to request a connection server to provide a connection between theuser and the first entity for real time communications. A second datasource is also searched (707) according to the search request to obtaininformation about a second entity, including a second reference to beused to request a connection for real time communications with thesecond entity without going through the connection server. A combined,sorted list of entities is provided (709) in response to the searchrequest, where the combined list includes the first reference for thefirst entity and the second reference for the second entity.

In one embodiment, data in the second data source is received from theuser. The data in the second data source may be maintained in an accountof the user on a server or at a user terminal. In one embodiment, thesecond data source includes an address book of the user.

In one embodiment, based on data sources, one or more entitiesidentified from searching the second data source are prioritized overentities identified from searching the first data source to generate thecombined list of entities. In one embodiment, the combined, sorted listincludes up to a predetermined number of top positions reserved forentities identified from searching the second data source.

In one embodiment, response to a first request made via the assignedfirst reference, a first connection for real time communications betweenthe user and the first entity is established; and the first entity ischarged an advertisement fee per the first connection for real timecommunications between the user and the first entity. In one embodiment,the second entity is not to be charged an advertisement fee for aconnection established via the second reference.

In one embodiment, response to a first request made via the assignedfirst reference, a first connection is established for real timecommunications between the user and the first entity; and the user ischarged a service fee on behalf of the first entity for a servicerendered by the first entity over the first connection. In oneembodiment, the first entity is charged a commission fee responsive tocharging the user the service fee on behalf of the first entity.

In one embodiment, the user is charged via a debit account, a creditaccount, a bank account, or a member account identified by the user. Inanother embodiment, an account of the user is charged via a device(e.g., a telephonic apparatus) used by the user to connect to the firstentity for real time communications. In one embodiment, the account ismaintained on the device (e.g., the telephonic apparatus).

In one embodiment, the first reference is assigned to the first entityjust in time for a response to the search request. For example, thefirst reference may be a telephone number of the connection serverwithout an extension, a telephone number of the connection server withan extension, a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resourceidentifier (URI), a user identifier of an instant messaging network, ora Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) user identifier.

In one embodiment, the first reference includes an encrypted or encodedtelephonic reference of the first entity and may further includeinformation about the search request, such as the search terms submittedby the user.

FIG. 16 illustrates a method to provide a list of communicationreferences on a telephonic apparatus according to one embodiment. InFIG. 16, after the telephonic apparatus receives (721) a search requestfrom a user, a first data source is searched (723) according to thesearch request to obtain information about a first entity, including afirst reference to be used to request a connection for real timecommunications with the first entity. A second data source is alsosearched (725) according to the search request to obtain informationabout a second entity, including a second reference to be used torequest a connection for real time communications with the secondentity. At the telephonic apparatus, search results from the first andsecond data sources are combined (727) to generate a combined, orderedlist, including the first entity and the second entity. The combined,sorted list of entities is presented (729) to the user in response tothe search request, where the combined list includes the first referencefor the first entity and the second reference for the second entity.

In one embodiment, when the first reference is selected by the user, apeer to peer connection is established for real time communicationsbetween the first entity and the user, for which at least one of thefirst entity and the user is charged a fee (e.g., a commission fee, anadvertisement fee, a service fee charged on behalf of the first entity);and when the second reference is selected by the user, a free peer topeer connection is established to the second entity using the secondreference.

In one embodiment, the second data source includes an address bookmaintained by the telephonic apparatus.

From this description, it will be appreciated that certain aspects areembodied in the user devices, certain aspects are embodied in the serversystems, and certain aspects are embodied in a system as a whole.Embodiments disclosed can be implemented using hardware, programs ofinstruction, or combinations of hardware and programs of instructions.

In general, routines executed to implement the embodiments may beimplemented as part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referredto as “computer programs.” The computer programs typically comprise oneor more instructions set at various times in various memory and storagedevices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or moreprocessors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operationsnecessary to execute elements involving the various aspects.

While some embodiments have been described in the context of fullyfunctioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms and are capableof being applied regardless of the particular type of machine orcomputer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited torecordable and non-recordable type media such as volatile andnon-volatile memory devices, read only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM), flash memory devices, floppy and other removable disks,magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media (e.g., Compact DiskRead-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks, (DVDs), etc.),among others. The instructions may be embodied in digital and analogcommunication links for electrical, optical, acoustical or other formsof propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.

A machine readable medium can be used to store software and data whichwhen executed by a data processing system causes the system to performvarious methods. The executable software and data may be stored invarious places including for example ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatilememory and/or cache. Portions of this software and/or data may be storedin any one of these storage devices. Further, the data and instructionscan be obtained from centralized servers or peer to peer networks.Different portions of the data and instructions can be obtained fromdifferent centralized servers and/or peer to peer networks at differenttimes and in different communication sessions or in a same communicationsession. The data and instructions can be obtained in entirety prior tothe execution of the applications. Alternatively, portions of the dataand instructions can be obtained dynamically, just in time, when neededfor execution. Thus, it is not required that the data and instructionsbe on a machine readable medium in entirety at a particular instance oftime.

In general, a machine readable medium includes any mechanism thatprovides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a formaccessible by a machine (e.g., a computer, network device, personaldigital assistant, manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one ormore processors, etc.).

Aspects disclosed may be embodied, at least in part, in software. Thatis, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other dataprocessing system in response to its processor, such as amicroprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in amemory, such as ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory, cache or aremote storage device.

In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combinationwith software instructions to implement the techniques. Thus, thetechniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructionsexecuted by the data processing system.

In this description, various functions and operations are described asbeing performed by or caused by software code to simplify description.However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by suchexpressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by aprocessor, such as a microprocessor.

Although some of the drawings illustrate a number of operations in aparticular order, operations which are not order dependent may bereordered and other operations may be combined or broken out. While somereordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and so do not present anexhaustive list of alternatives. Moreover, it should be recognized thatthe stages could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software or anycombination thereof.

Although the disclosure has been provided with reference to specificexemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the various modificationand changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit as set forth in the claims. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative senserather than in a restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: receiving a search request from a user;searching a first data source according to the search request to obtaininformation about a first entity; assigning a first reference to thefirst entity, the first reference to be used to request a connectionserver to provide a connection between the user and the first entity forreal time communications; searching a second data source according tothe search request to obtain information about a second entity,including a second reference to be used to request a connection for realtime communications with the second entity without going through theconnection server; and providing to the user a combined, sorted list ofentities in response to the search request, the combined list includingthe first reference for the first entity and the second reference forthe second entity.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein data in the seconddata source is received from the user.
 3. The method of claim 2, whereindata in the second data source is maintained in an account of the user.4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second data source comprises anaddress book of the user; and the method further comprises: responsiveto the user selecting the first entity, adding a listing of the firstentity to the address book of the user.
 5. The method of claim 1,further comprising: based on data sources, prioritizing one or moreentities identified from searching the second data source over entitiesidentified from searching the first data source to generate the combinedlist of entities.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the combined, sortedlist includes up to a predetermined number of top positions reserved forentities identified from searching the second data source.
 7. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: responding to a first request made viathe assigned first reference, establishing a first connection for realtime communications between the user and the first entity; and chargingthe first entity an advertisement fee per the first connection for realtime communications between the user and the first entity.
 8. The methodof claim 7, wherein the second entity is not to be charged anadvertisement fee for a connection established via the second reference.9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: responding to a firstrequest made via the assigned first reference, establishing a firstconnection for real time communications between the user and the firstentity; and charging the user a service fee on behalf of the firstentity for a service rendered by the first entity over the firstconnection.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: charging thefirst entity a commission fee responsive to charging the user theservice fee on behalf of the first entity.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein the charging the user comprises charging a debit account, acredit account, a bank account, or a member account identified by theuser.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the charging the user comprisescharging an account of the user via a device used by the user to connectto the first entity for real time communications.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the device comprises a telephonic apparatus; and theaccount is maintained on the telephonic apparatus.
 14. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first reference is assigned to the first entityjust in time for a response to the search request; and the firstreference comprises a telephone number of the connection server withoutan extension, a telephone number of the connection server with anextension, a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resourceidentifier (URI), a user identifier of an instant messaging network, ora Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) user identifier.
 15. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first reference comprises an encrypted or encodedtelephonic reference of the first entity.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein the first reference further includes information about thesearch request.
 17. A machine readable media embodying instructions, theinstructions causing a telephonic apparatus to perform a method, themethod comprising: receiving at the telephonic apparatus a searchrequest from a user; searching a first data source according to thesearch request to obtain information about a first entity, including afirst reference to be used to request a connection for real timecommunications with the first entity; searching a second data sourceaccording to the search request to obtain information about a secondentity, including a second reference to be used to request a connectionfor real time communications with the second entity; and presenting tothe user a combined, ordered list of entities in response to the searchrequest, the combined list including the first reference for the firstentity and the second reference for the second entity.
 18. The media ofclaim 17, wherein the method further comprises: when the first referenceis selected by the user, establishing a peer to peer connection for realtime communications between the first entity and the user and chargingat least one of the first entity and the user a fee; and when the secondreference is selected by the user, establishing a free peer to peerconnection to the second entity using the second reference.
 19. Themedia of claim 18, wherein the second data source comprises an addressbook maintained by the telephonic apparatus.
 20. A system, comprising:means for receiving a search request from a user; means for searching afirst data source according to the search request to obtain informationabout a first entity; means for assigning a first reference to the firstentity, the first reference to be used to request a connection server toprovide a connection between the user and the first entity for real timecommunications; means for searching a second data source according tothe search request to obtain information about a second entity,including a second reference to be used to request a connection for realtime communications with the second entity without going through theconnection server; and means for providing to the user a combined,sorted list of entities in response to the search request, the combinedlist including the first reference for the first entity and the secondreference for the second entity.